


Touch Starved

by strawberrylovely



Category: Shance - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Cuddling, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Sleep Walking, Sleeping Together, Touch-Starved, shance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 18:11:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16202891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylovely/pseuds/strawberrylovely
Summary: Shiro misses his friend’s touch. He’s about to find out how a deprived mind can lead the body to get what it needs, even if he’s not completely conscious for it.





	Touch Starved

**Author's Note:**

> This is 100% based off of [this fanart](http://artbybansheebender.tumblr.com/post/178530941931/shiro-definitely-sleep-walks-searching-for-cuddles) of Shiro accidentally waking up in Lance’s bed after sleep walking to his room.

Lance had always been small. Shiro knew that. He’d noticed quite a few times during their time in the castleship. Hell, he’d even noticed it at the Garrison way before the Kerberos mission.

Back then, Lance was mostly just an awkward, lanky teenager. Shiro always figured he’d grow out of it. And he was kind of right: Lance _did_ grow. He just grew _into_ it.

By the time they called the castleship home, Lance had filled out his lanky form into a lean young man who stood only a few inches shorter than Shiro himself. Something Shiro _definitely_ noticed. But he held it in. There was no time for _noticing_ during a war.

Except, another thing Shiro came to find out about Lance, was that he loved touching. His hands and arms and legs were always grabbing onto, wrapping around, draping over his friends, Shiro included. What Lance didn’t know about Shiro, though, is that Shiro also loved touching. He craved human touch, especially after being captured by the Galra. He just didn’t know how to go about it. So he kept it to himself.

He just didn’t want to let anyone else know, especially after what happened with Keith (who would have hugged him for days if Shiro hadn’t assured that he was fine). But Lance never failed to give him that sense of comfort, even if he only expressed annoyance or confusion about why the boy was touching him. Secretly, he loved it.

Which is probably why he found himself craving Lance’s touch more and more as the days passed. With the battle on Earth and piloting the Atlas, Shiro hadn’t had much time to spend with his friend, and therefore hadn’t felt anything more than brief human contact in passing. He was just thankful for the Garrison issued body pillows that he hadn’t completely lost it yet. Part of him wanted to say it was just a general need for touch, but with each night, more and more dreams filled his head of brown hair, scattered freckles, long, tan limbs.

He missed Lance. Probably too much.

After what Shiro could only call a gruesome training session with the Atlas crew, he was worn out and his eyes could barely stay open as he walked back to the dorms. All he wanted to do was curl into his body pillow, pretend it was Lance, and sleep for ten years. So as he walked into his already darkened room, he only got his uniform shirt off before climbing into bed and hugging tight to the lump beside him. He was out before his ears could register the surprised grunt that echoed in the room.

-

Faint laughter filled Shiro’s head, and a smile to match quickly followed in the shape of Lance McClain. They were dancing around, holding hands but otherwise completely separate in their movements. Shiro couldn’t really hear any music, but he didn’t care. He felt happy just being near Lance. Touching him. Seeing his smile.

He pulled the giggling boy into his arms, squeezing him and letting their bodies find comfort in one another. All the tension within Shiro melted away at the feeling of Lance’s skin.

“I love hugging you,” Shiro heard himself say.

He would have felt embarrassed, but Lance nuzzled into his chest and a faint “I love hugging you, too,” rumbled up from inside him.

The boy pulled back slightly, shining his bright smile onto Shiro’s face, an excited laugh bursting out of his throat that portrayed a general sense of happiness and warmth wrapping around the two of them.

“Never stop hugging me,” Lance said, and Shiro just nodded, promising that he’d never let go, because he never wanted to be separated from Lance again.

-

It was dark when Shiro woke up, meaning it was still nighttime. He looked over at his clock to check the time, but it wasn’t on his bedside table. In fact, nothing seemed to be where it normally was. He raised up off the bed to scan the room, a room that was very much _not his_.

“What?” he whispered to himself, blinking more awake to make sure he wasn’t still dreaming.

No, it was definitely not his room. It was...

A hand reached up and pulled on his undershirt, yanking him back down before he could discern who’s room he was in. But he quickly got the answer as his face became squished against the very person he’d just been dreaming about.

“Stay. Warm,” Lance’s voice groaned out, and the hand that had brought Shiro back into his space suddenly grabbed onto the man’s metal arm and tucked it beneath his stomach. His naked stomach.

Shiro let himself worry for only a moment, sneaking a glance down to see... oh, _thank God_ Lance wore his underwear into bed.

But why was _Shiro_ in his bed? The captain struggled to remember his bleary walk from the hangar to his room, but not only was he unable to remember it, but he couldn’t figure out what made his feet decide to take him here instead.

Not that he was complaining. And it seemed like Lance wasn’t complaining either. The way the younger paladin’s hand stayed tucked with Shiro’s under his belly proved exactly how he was feeling about the situation. Lance sighed quietly, snuggling deeper into his pillow as, what Shiro guessed, he drifted back to sleep.

It took all of two seconds for Shiro to decide that he wasn’t going to freak out, but instead take the situation calmly and then decide what to do from there. He took in what he already knew (he’d fallen asleep in Lance’s room, and Lance was now not letting him leave), and then decided to take in what he was now learning. Lance slept in his underwear, Lance cooed quietly as he dreamt. Lance’s skin was warm pressed against him.

The light connecting Shiro’s prosthetic to his shoulder casted a faint glow over Lance’s freckled back. Shiro knew Lance had freckles, he’d seen them in the showers after training, but never this close. Never close enough to actually touch.

Unfortunately, both of his hands were unable to trace along the little spots littering Lance’s skin like he wanted, so he trailed over each one with his eyes, counting them, memorizing them, hoping one day Lance would let him do this again where his hands could explore. Because as he stared at the boy in his arms, he realized just how well rested he was. That, just like in his dream, all of his stress and tension was gone, replaced by a calm contentedness that only Lance could bring.

Shiro wasn’t sure what this meant, but he never wanted to lose this feeling. He wanted it to become a normal part of his routine, coming home to Lance and recharging after a long day.

He nuzzled his face closer to Lance’s and smiled as his eyes fell closed. He could talk to the brunet about making arrangements when they both woke up again. Maybe they could make arrangements for kissing too, if Lance was up for it. But for now, Shiro was glad to have the blue paladin’s small frame within his grasp as he drifted back into the best sleep of his life.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this fic, please leave a comment to let me know! Thank you so much! <3


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